Two homes were severely damaged by a Grad rocket in Netivot, in southern Israel, near the border with the Gaza Strip. An additional rocket was fired at Be'er Sheva, and fell in an open area. No casualties or damage was reported.

Mayors of Be'er Sheva, Ashdod and Omer decided to cancel school on Sunday, despite Home Front Command's recommendation that the public continue with its daily routine.

A Netivot resident told Haaretz “We heard a whistle and a loud explosion. We went outside and saw that the house across from us was destroyed. Suddenly there was a commotion – fortunately as far as we know right now no one was hurt.”

Another resident said “I was in bed, we heard the sirens, and we ran to the shelter. Suddenly we heard the explison, and all of the houses woke up – the children were scared.”

Netivot’s Mayor, Yechiel Zohar arrived at the scene of explosion. “The home here is completely destroyed,” said Zohar. “There was an Iron Dome system here, but it’s currently not here. The defense establishment needs to rethink its deployment of the systems – unfortunately this is not the first time a house in Netivot has suffered a direct hit,” continued Zohar.

“Fortunately there were no casualties or injures, but it’s still luck – it could have hit a house with a whole family inside. This needs to end. The Iron Dome needs to come back here – over the last few weeks they’ve been shooting at us nonstop,” said Zohar.

Last Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians and left one severely wounded. The four militants were reportedly engaged in firing a rocket into Israel at the time, according to reports in the Palestinian press.

These Palestinian sources reported that the four were east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip at the time. At this time it isn't clear what organization the four were affiliated with.

In addition, last Thursday morning IDF forces killed three Gaza militants caught placing an explosive device on the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. The three are affiliated with a Jihadist group that operates independently in the Strip against the Hamas.

Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas have had a tenuous, unwritten truce since a three-week war more than three years ago. Despite that, militants, some from Hamas and others from splinter groups - continue to fire rockets at southern Israel, triggering Israeli airstrikes.

Last week, sources in Gaza reported that Hamas arrested 20 people on suspicion of affiliation with armed Salafist groups operating in Gaza and trying to fire rockets into Israel. Hamas has been confronting these radical groups over rocket fire, as it tries to maintain calm in the Strip and ensure its continued rule.

These groups, some of whom are comprised of former Hamas operatives, continue their efforts to launch missiles into Israel, while Hamas and the Isamic Jihad try to maintain calm.

Hamas did not repond to the killing of the six militants. Saturday night's rocket attack was apparently committed by militants identified with one of the radical "global jihad" groups.

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Dear all,
I was surprised to know that new jewish,nice people, go and occupied a
piece of land that belongs to me and my brothers in Naqura near Nablus,
They told my brother that they feel free to take the land because it is
no-body land.Only because my family did not divide the land yet between
me and my brothers.Where is the Far West....Where is the human rights in
the Jewish Religion, is it really legal, occupying somebody's land? What
do your Superior inteligence calls this behaviour?where are the
polititians,scientists,accademic people in Israel; the state of the Far
West....good luck Israil.... Abu Eideh

I suggest that residents of Sderot, Netivot and other towns and villages
within missile range of Gaza start manufacturing their own rockets in
their homes and start firing them indiscriminately at settlements in
Gaza,. Individual citizens are not subject tohe same restrictions and
international political pressures as the IDF and the Israeli government.
Our security dorces, of course, will find it "impossible" to
locate the missile launchers.

There have been hundreds and hundreds of missles launched from Gaza at
Israeli towns just this year. While I admire Israel's restraint, the
cost of what those Israeli's in border cities suffer in mental fatigue
must be horrendous. I can't imagine how Israeli civilians are going to
come out of this OK. This is why the U.N hired Richard Falk. They know
he will be silent on these Hamas crimes. Sadly Desmund Tutu is also
silent on these Palestinian crimes to terrorize Israelis. Israelis are
tired of Palestinian duplicity where Palestinian rockets and terror have
come to be a norm for Israelis.

It looks like that the enemy continues to hit targets in Shderot and
with higher precision in spite of the heavy deployment of Iron Dom
systems in the area. I believe that all the enemy does to bypass the
Iron Dom is simple filling less fuel in its missiles making them less
than 5 KM, a distance in which Iron Dom not able to intercept incoming
missiles. Although the Iron Dom continues to be successful in longer
distance targets such as Ashkelon and Beersheba, it fails badly to
protect towns residing closer to the border. Israel needs to either
increase the buffer zone to over 5 KM which is hard to do or to
acquiring laser based interceptor system (Tactical High Energy Laser)
that is designed to intercept missile in a very short distance. One of
these system called Nautilus was developed in the US in the 90s and was
very successful, but the US decided to stopped funding it due to budget
constraints maybe Israel can take it over.

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